#and i'm usually jotting them down in a notebook or texting them to myself

[tyranttortoise]

how long have you been writing stories? and did you start with undertale?

I started out on FF.net with Inu-Yasha fanfiction, actually, which was around 2002.  I wouldn’t recommend any of those, though; I was super young and it showed.  Like, I wrote one where Kagome became a stripper for no real reason??  Because I was in middle school and strippers made my writing more edgy, I guess??  It’s really embarrassing to look back on!

(Speaking of Inu-Yasha, did you guys hear about the sequel that’s coming out?!)

Next, I moved on to Super Mario fanfiction, where I wrote about Bowser and Peach.  I like that a little more, and I really want to do a re-write of my Bowser/Peach fic because it was my most popular one on FF.net.  I still occasionally get messages asking me about it, and it even has a TV trope page someone made for it where all the tropes get broken down really well.

After that, there’s like an eight year gap before I wrote Broken Promises and Timelines for Undertale, and during that gap, I stuck to just roleplaying.  I’ve always been a big roleplayer, and it’s where most of my writing experience comes from.  I’d like to get back into it sometime soon.  

I also wrote some original stuff during the gap, too, but it was all YA fiction that also was pretty lacking.  The only one I really liked was a fairy tale told from the POV of an Evil Overlord’s minion that tries to capture a princess on her wedding day, but ends up losing her and going on a journey to re-kidnap her with a group of people that mistake him for a hero that’s trying to save her.  I also had a universe fleshed out that involved a constellation falling from the sky and being reborn a human that I really liked, but never got around to finishing.  It was all about Greek mythology and astrology.

I still love writing fanfiction, though, and I’ve been doing imagines over on @devildom-tyrant  because the Obey Me fandom has my muse right now.  I’m definitely still writing Undertale, so no worries there, but I do plan on writing a fanfic for the Obey Me fandom that’ll be a lot like SSLL because reverse-harems are my thing.  I won’t start that until I update SSLL, though, but I’ve got a lot of the next chapter finished.  

[collegecoward]

HELP!!! I failed my math exam in June and I have to re-take it in September. The problem is, that I just can't force myself to studying during summer vacation when my friends and bf invite me over all the time and I'm used to doing absolutely nothing during vacation, like it was in high school. I just can't turn on "studying mode" in myself during this time. Help me please! Only one month left to my re-take exam and I still done nothing!

Right! Help is on the way!

You’re about to miss an important deadline because you keep putting off doing the work! What now?

This procrastination stops now. Hear me? Right now. I think you are self-sabotaging, and friend, I have been there countless times, and it is not worth it at all. Recognize what you’re more than likely doing: You’re trying to fail this exam. Not consciously. You wouldn’t want to fail, per se, that isn’t fun, but your subconscious has decided that it doesn’t exactly count as a second fail if you don’t put any effort in. Can’t fail if you don’t try, right?

WRONG.

Here’s the truth:

A failing grade is a failing grade whether you studied or not. Usually you only get one retake exam, and this is it!

Perfect is the enemy of good. You cannot treat this exam as an all-or-nothing scenario. You are not deciding between an A or an F in which studying = impossible A and not studying = possible F.

Earning a D or a C is a passing grade. You are not trying to get an A or a B, you are trying to pass. If you get an A or a B, great. If you don’t, that is also great!!

You are no longer on vacation. School has begun, and class starts today.

Okay. Now that we’ve had our epiphany, what should you do?

Text your boyfriend and your friends and say, “Look, you guys love me, right? Please help me pass this exam.” Ask them to encourage you to study. Make plans to hang out and study. Ask them to invite you to hang out only after you’ve studied for an hour or two. Let fun time be the reward for your efforts.

Take out your study materials. Take them out, put them on the desk (not the bed, do not use the bed) or a table at Starbucks and sit in front of them. Look at them. Stare at them. Open the book, open your notebook. Skim. Read. Jot down notes. Look, you’re studying already! Not so hard!

Block all those websites you love. Here’s a list of apps for your desktop and phone. You can unblock them when you’re taking a study break, but I recommend trying not to. Instead, get up and move around if you’re able.

Focus on the lessons you struggled with most. Remind yourself of the lessons you found easy/less difficult, just to ensure you don’t forget, but remember that you are studying to improve!

Think about what was on that exam. If you have a copy of the old exam or study guide, that’s even better. Use the syllabus and old homework to steer you in the right direction. 

Hopefully this was like a splash of cold water to the face, and not like a hammer to the head! I’m in the middle of procrastinating on an important deadline too, so I think this answer was as much for me as it was for you. 

Thank you for asking this question! I’d better get going on my application.

[commodorecliche]

Hey Lindsay, I've read a few of your fics and I love the way you write :) I've been trying to write a story but i'm just stuck at the outline. So, I was wondering if you could, perhaps, make a little tutorial or a walk-through your process? I'd like to have my story points defined before I start writing but I don't have a structure that I can follow and I really love your style *-* It's okay if you don't feel like it though. I understand. Thank you in advance ^^

hey there friend! i’m not sure when you sent this ask today, i so hope you haven’t been waiting all day for my reply!! i just saw it.

first things first - thank you so much for your kind words about my writing. they really mean the world to me. and i am SO EXCITED to hear that you’re working on your own fic. that’s amazing!! 

now to the meat!

so i don’t know if i have specific or... super organized... process, per se, and i don’t really do a ‘strict’ outline, in the most traditional sense of the word (meaning i don’t have a document full of numbers and bullet points and such). and everyone’s process is going to be a little different, so bear in mind, what works for me might not work for you. but once you get the feel of writing your story, you’ll get a better sense of what your own writing process is. and you’ll figure out what works and doesn’t work for you. the way i do things might not work for you, but that’s totally okay, you’ll come into your own as you go along. and hey, maybe this will work for you! who knows!

but what i generally do when i start a new fic is:

1: i type out my rough and basic idea. i like to do this (and most of my outlining/drafting) in all caps, it helps keep me focused and helps me organize what i have ‘drafted’ and what i have properly written lol.

so for example, um, In the House We Remain, my first idea was jotted out like this, at the top of my document: SAPPY GHOST STORY, AZIRAPHALE BUYS A COTTAGE THAT CROWLEY USED TO OWN, CROWLEY DIED THERE. CROWLEY WAS AN AUTHOR AND HIS BOOKS ARE STILL IN THE HOUSE, WHICH IS HOW AZIRAPHALE GETS TO KNOW HIM.

that’s my base level idea, and i kept it at the top of the document.

2: from there, i start thinking about what are some MAJOR scenes i want to have happen. not the minute details, just the major scenes that were popping in and out of my head when i was daydreaming about the fic. these can be as minimal or as thorough as you like. for In the House We Remain, i had a pretty set idea on how i wanted the story to progress from start to finish, so i had a lot of scenes already in mind.

using the same fic as an example, these are some of the scene ideas i wrote in my fic document, underneath my top line idea: SCENES: - AZIRAPHALE SEES THE COTTAGE (ANATHEMA IS THE REAL ESTATE AGENT) AND HE LOVES IT. HE BUYS IT THAT DAY. (DEFINE THE LANDSCAPE AND HOW THE COTTAGE LOOKS, PROBABLY WANT A POND IN THE BACK, THAT COULD BE HOW CROWLEY WAS MURDERED. COTTAGE SHOULD BE COZY AND DREAMY, A LOVELY THING SET OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COUNTRYSIDE. LOOK UP PICS FOR REFERENCES.) - GUNNA HAVE TO MENTION SOMETHING ABOUT THE HOUSE THAT’LL CONNECT TO HOW CROWLEY DIED, SOME VISUAL INDICATORS OF HIS SPIRIT. MAYBE WATER STAINS ON THE FLOOR? LIKE DRIPPING WATER MIGHT POOL AROUND A WET PERSON’S FEET? AM I GOING WITH DROWNING AS CAUSE OF DEATH? DUNNO.***COME BACK TO THIS. - WHILE UNPACKING AZIRAPHALE SEES A BUNCH OF UNFAMILIAR BOOKS IN THE STUDY AND IS CURIOUS ABOUT THEM. - AZIRAPHALE TALKS TO ANATHEMA ABOUT THE BOOKS AND THE AUTHOR. LEARNS THAT CROWLEY IS THE AUTHOR, AND THAT HE OWNED AND DIED IN THE HOUSE MYSTERIOUSLY. - AZIRAPHALE READS THE BOOKS, LOVES THEM, FEELS A CONNECTION WITH CROWLEY. - AZIRAPHALE SOMEHOW CONNECTS WITH CROWLEY’S LINGERING SPIRIT IN THE HOUSE (DETAILS TO COME) - THEY START COMMUNICATING. CROWLEY REVEALS THAT HE WAS MURDERED - I WANT THIS TO BE AN EMOTIONAL SCENE, AZIRAPHALE VERY UPSET AND DISTURBED BY WHAT HE’S BEEN TOLD. ALSO AFRAID CAUSE HE’S MADE CONTACT W/ SOMEONE WHO’S VERY DEAD. MAYBE HE EVEN CALLS ANATHEMA AFTER TO REVEAL THE NATURE OF CROWLEY’S DEATH. - NEED SCENES OF AZIRAPHALE GROWING OLD IN THE HOUSE WITH CROWLEY’S GHOST, THEN EVENTUALLY DYING AND ACTUALLY UNITING WITH HIM. SAPPY, EMOTIONAL, THE WORKS. - AZIRAPHALE AND CROWLEY’S SPIRITS LINGER IN THE HOUSE, EVEN AS A NEW COUPLE MOVES IN.

those were my major scenes that i needed to write and that would make up most of my story.

3: flesh out the aforementioned scenes. break these scenes down individually and think about them, picture them like a movie in your head. when aziraphale sees the cottage, what’s happening around him? has he gotten out of the car? what is the weather like, is it a dreamy setting? should the wind be gently rustling the trees and his hair? is he in awe? does he take a moment to take in the exterior of the house. what does the house look like? picture that entire scene from start to finish, then jot down your thoughts. remember, you aren’t actually doing Proper Good Writing out. you’re just getting the ideas down and the draft ideas fleshed out. 4: once i have those scenes fleshed out (always typed in all caps for me lol), i start the actual ‘writing’ process. I drop the all-caps, start using proper grammar, and go into I’m Telling A Story Mode. I usually try to start writing at the beginning, because i tend to visualize my stories as movies that play in my head. i need to mentally see it progress as i write it, like i would do if i were watching a movie or reading a book. but sometimes that doesn’t happen - sometimes beginnings are the hardest part. if you struggle with the beginning, skip to the first most fleshed out scene you have, the one you feel most comfortable with, or whatever scene you feel REALLY ready to write. this writing doesn’t have to be perfect (it definitely won’t be lol). but you’ll start to get a feel for how you want to actually present this story and these scenes once they’re all finalized. you can edit it and make it prettier later, but for now, just get some words on the paper as if it were a story you were ready to tell. 5: once you have your main scenes fleshed out, you need to start making connections between them. stories need depth and background, so you need to be able to go “okay, i have aziraphale loving the house and buying it, then i need him to find the books in the study, how am I going to connect those two scenes?”

you can do this part either as you go along (example: you’ve written your first Major Scene, and you want to progress onto your next scene, so you write the connections first, then once you have the connection scenes done, you can then move on to the next Major Scene from your draft) OR you can get all your major drafted scenes written, and make your connections AFTER those scenes are done. you just gotta see what works for you. 

i prefer the first method, i try to write the major scenes and the connection scenes as i go along so that i have a natural flow. that also allows me to make some changes to a later Major Scene before i actually write it. (example: hm, i was gunna have Aziraphale do XYZ in the next scene, but with this connection, I think having him do ABC in that scene might work better).

if you don’t have a clear-cut idea yet for how to connect your scenes, go back to the all caps ‘drafting’ mode, where you’re just throwing ideas on the page in between, like: ‘AZIRAPHALE HAS JUST MOVED IN AND IS READY TO UNPACK, I NEED HIM TO BRING HIS BOOKS TO THE STUDY TO START UNPACKING THEM AND SHELVING THEM. THAT’S WHEN HE SHOULD NOTICE CROWLEY’S BOOKS THAT HAVE MYSTERIOUSLY APPEARED ON THE SHELVES.’ from there, go back into ‘proper writing’ mode when you’re ready, and flesh out that scene - what is aziraphale doing while he’s unpacking? are his boxes of books already in the study, or do i need him to have a reason to bring them into the study? maybe a mover accidentally placed one in the wrong room. this is your connector that will get you between scenes. 6: once you have all your scenes done in a proper first draft, go back, do re-writes, add new things that you think you might need, take out things that aren’t necessary, check your grammar and spelling, and do your final proofing. (read your story out loud too - it’s the easiest way to catch typos, errors, or weird phrasing)

7: don’t be afraid to write ANYWHERE. many of my ideas for scenes popped up in the middle of a work day, and every time that happens, i text myself. i send myself a text, all caps, with the scene idea, and i don’t open it until i’m ready to write. it helps me keep track of things. i did a lot of writing in notebooks, on post-it notes, wherever really. i even have googledocs installed on my phone so i could access a fic from anywhere if i had a sudden idea. and if i had something new to add to the document, i put it in all caps, so i would know i needed to address it later.

8: act things out! seriously, i’m not kidding. act your scenes out with yourself. especially dialogue scenes. have those dialogues with yourself, think about how you want dialogue to progress, and talk those ideas out in a way that sounds natural to you. that’ll help you write your dialogue later. (the number of times my husband has walked in on me running through some dialogue aloud......... goodness).

9: don’t be afraid of music :) maybe it’s silly, but i make a playlist for every fic i write because i like to listen to music to get me into the correct mood for what i’m writing. it helps me a LOT. maybe it won’t be as helpful for you, but always worth a try.

and that’s really.... the extent of my process. it’s a little messy, i know, and maybe it’s not the best advice. and i just hope that it at least a LITTLE bit of sense... but i hope it will at least be of some help to you! if you’re confused about anything, please don’t hesitate to message me. 

or if you want to chat one-on-one, that’s totally fine too. i 100% don’t mind if you send me a chat message. i’m always happy to help.